Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar and the band’s co-founding drummer Alex Van Halen haven’t spoken to one another in 21 years. Hagar had hoped for Alex to take part in his “Best Of All Worlds” tour in some capacity, but Alex refused to even mention Hagar in his recent memoir, and has generally dismissed his era of the band.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar talked about his lack of a relationship with Alex, and shared his thoughts as to why the legendary drummer won’t speak to him.
“I’ve had this conversation with a few people, including (former Van Halen manager) Irving Azoff,” Hagar said. “I’ve asked him, ‘What’s the problem?’ And some people have said to me, ‘Oh, Cabo Wabo. At one time, Van Halen, when you built it, you guys were all partners in that. And then they didn’t want it anymore when it was losing money, and they gave it to you, and you turned it around and made hundreds of millions of dollars on it. And they’re angry. Alex is angry about that.’ To that I said, ‘How the f*ck could they be angry about that? They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything. They made me sign off big time.’ And I’m going, ‘I hope it’s not that.'”
Some have speculated that Hagar’s open and honest autobiography is to blame for the lack of communication. In the book, Hagar criticized guitarist Edward Van Halen for past addiction problems which lead to several issues when the band was on tour and ultimately a partial demise of the group at the time. “The book has been brought up,” Hagar said. “The book was honest. It was well documented that Eddie was a mess on that tour. But I don’t want to drag Eddie through no coals now. That’s just water under the bridge.”
Hagar went on to say that he thinks Alex is upset because he and bassist Michael Anthony are still musically active. “I think Al’s angry because I’m out doing it, and Mike and I are out doing it, and he can’t,” Hagar said. “He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn’t want to play drums or can’t play drums anymore, and he can’t go write a new record. Alex wasn’t the songwriter in the band. He was the drummer. Eddie and I wrote the songs. Dave and Eddie wrote the songs, and so we can go out and do them. And I think that really bothers him that Mike and I are still out there doing it. I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn’t do it anymore. But I’m the happiest guy out of all of them. That pisses people off in itself. Being too happy, people don’t like that.”
Rolling Stone interviewer Andy Green said that Alex might feel bitter due to recent health issues. “Yeah, I’d say so,” Hagar said. “And I’m okay with it. Al, you’re fine. Just leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. Everything’s good. I’m making you money, by the way, Al. I’m out there selling Van Halen records and keeping the name alive, keeping the music alive.”
